I was referred to the position from a Twilio employee. I quickly received a response telling me they had received overwhelming interest in the position, and I'd need to complete a 3-page PDF presenting the story of the inception, discovery, execution and delivery of a past memorable product launch. They included a series questions and statements to understand several different facets of the launch. I spent the weekend putting it together and sent it back to the recruiter as requested. He responded back asking if I had a degree and that it was hard requirement for the role, something he could have easily found by looking at my resume which has education listed. I responded that I do not and he responded back a few days later saying they were going to pass on me.
The job posting did not state having a degree was a hard requirement or I would not have applied or done the hours long task they asked for. This was an extremely inconsiderate process with no regard for the time they are asking applicants to put in prior to even getting a call with a recruiter. This company is said to have empathy for their customers and employees which was part of why I was interested in working there but apparently, they have no empathy for job applicants. I have over 7 years’ experience in Product making a degree, which would be 15 years old at this point, quite meaningless at this point in my career. They are missing opportunities with this arbitrary requirement.